[Talk] New Information on the early history of Beinecke 408?

[pfeaster]

making it possible to tell a plausible story of the origin of the mysterious volume.

I don't know if it is the translation, but understanding Rudolf II's said ownership of the Voynich manuscript isn't really dealing with the "origin" of the manuscript, unless one doubts the accuracy of the carbon dating as more than an interval of 150 years separates the origin from Rudolf II.

The original German refers to "eine plausible Herkunftsgeschichte des mysteriösen Bandes."  The part that was translated as "origin" is Herkunft in the compound Herkunftsgeschichte.  "Origin" is probably the most common English translation of Herkunft, but it can also mean "provenance."  So an alternative translation would be "a plausible story [or history] of the provenance of the mysterious volume."  The use of the word Besitzgeschichte ("ownership history") in the title and elsewhere reinforces my suspicion that this is what's meant.